The Russian army's expensive new "designer" uniform has been criticised for being too thin after hundreds of young conscripts in Siberia kitted out in it fell ill with pneumonia and flu.

Parents of the sick conscripts blamed the army's new uniform which was created, amid much fanfare, by the flamboyant Moscow fashion designer Valentin Yudashkin.

Mr Yudashkin, who is famous in Russia for dressing Kremlin wives, won a multi-million pound tender to give the Red Army's successor a fashion makeover in 2007 after soldiers complained that their old uniforms made them look like they were serving in a poor developing country's army.

But parents said that the uniforms, which were debuted at a grand Red Square military parade in 2008, had put fashion before practicality.

"On the street they (our boys) literally felt naked," a relative of one of the soldiers told the government daily newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta.

"They gave our lads army boots made from fake leather with cardboard inner soles, socks, and light clothing clearly not suitable for winter."

Parents said they had scoured the local area in Siberia close to their sons' barracks for traditional Russian fur coats and felt boots to complement the substandard uniforms. With the mercury often hovering around -40C (-40F) and the conscripts not let off outdoor guard duties, they quickly fell ill.

The army confirmed that up to 250 servicemen in the same barracks had been struck down with pneumonia and flu since mid-October but claimed that the new uniforms were not to blame.

"It seems that all this happened because of our slovenliness," conceded the army's Chief of the General Staff General Nikolai Makarov.

But he and his subordinates suggested that the conscripts had fallen ill only because their commanding officers had behaved irresponsibly and made them stand guard and work in sub-zero temperatures that no uniform could withstand for long periods.

The new uniforms had been tested and found fit for Russia's harsh winters, they added.

Concerns have previously been raised about the fact that many Russian officers and soldiers are too fat to comfortably fit into the new uniforms.